Windows XP Mode, the virtualisation tool currently in beta for Windows 7, only works on processors with virtualisation extensions, known as AMD-V and Intel VT-x. Microsoft made this clear from the get-go, but still various news websites regurgitated it as "news" yesterday that some Intel processors do not support XPM. Twenty-four hours down the road, and Intel had a few things to say about this.

I think what most people get upset about isn't the fact that they need to upgrade their computer per se, but the fact that for all that extra hogging of resources Vista brings very little benefit on top of XP or even other alternative oses when you come right down to it. It hogs more resources, requires more power... and yet doesn't really do much more with it. Win 7 might be different, I'm of the wait and see mindset. I've seen it perform well on some systems, and worse than Vista on others, but as it's still in the RC stages I'm willing to give it more leeway than Vista when judging it.
Also, keep a watch on your mentality. Yes, many of us in the more developed--for lack of a better word and I'm sorry how that sounds--nations can go and buy or build a new computer for pretty cheap... but not everyone everywhere can do that for any number of reasons. When a hardware upgrade is required, there really should be a reason for it other than that the hardware comes cheap in some areas. That's a very lazy mentality, imho.